Cold Water Algae Eaters With Goldfish
However as a pond algae eater there are better options available.
Cold water algae eaters with goldfish. Siamese algae water eater. The hillstream loach is a fun algae eater to have as a part of your goldfish tank. Some species of snail may be able to tolerate cooler waters but many goldfish will peck at them. It tends to thrive between 72 to 78 degrees fahrenheit.
However they all give similar results of getting rid of the algae without hurting the native members of the tank. Nerite snails are popular among goldfish enthusiasts. Chinese algae eaters will be sucking on your fish. Koi are an excellent addition to any pond and you will doubtless get much enjoyment from seeing them rush to the surface to eat from your hand.
More commonly koi or goldfish will eat algae during the cooler winter months where there are far fewer other food sources available. Here is a list of algae eaters that are suitable for your cold water aquarium. This can lead to stress and disease for the fish. Easy to care for they do best when kept in groups of 3 or more.
Their temp is down to 74. Most if not all algae eating fish are tropical and can not survive the cold waters that goldfish thrive in. The common pleco will grow over 30. A goldfish tank will require even less maintenance if it is populated with scavenger fish who eat debris and algae.
Plecos generally do just fine with koi but can inadvertently latch onto smaller goldfish and damage their scales and necessary slime coating if there isn t much swimming space in your pond. There are several excellent hardy and non aggressive cold water scavengers that can be placed in a goldfish tank. The chinese algae eater comes from further south in the tropics. Some people are wary of housing goldfish with algae eaters as they re said to suck onto the sides of goldfish and hurt them.
Having more goldfish or koi in your pond will help ensure that more algae gets eaten but you may want to also incorporate other algae eaters as well if you have a significant amount of algae growth. Besides these little fluffy finned beauties being super active and fun to look at these little guys do a pretty good job of scrubbing the walls broad leafy plants and decor of your tank. Most algae eaters see algae as food either exclusively or as supplements. They are among the best of algae eaters and will even go after very stubborn green spot algae.
I tried adding mystery snails to my goldfish tank and the goldies found them to be an interesting toy. This is true of common plecos who sometimes attempt to eat the slime off their skin leaving red sores but the majority of other algae eaters pose no threat.